I'm out blowing bubbles when I should be cleaning the bathrooms. We're
buying play pools and spending so much time in the toy departments I've been
approached by people wanting help with their purchases. I ask Kristina so
many questions she's just taken to answering "yes" to everything I
ask, yet I'm sure she hasn't a clue as to what I'm saying. (For those of you not
in the know, Kristina is from Belarus and speaks only Russian!) Every once
in a while she throws in a "no" just to trip me up. And she's
trying to teach us Russian - she's the fussiest teacher I've ever had. I
thought Mrs. Bernhardt for French was difficult. Kristina makes me repeat
it again and again until I say it perfectly. And believe me, Russian with
its rolling "r's" and such is not easy. She even rolls her big
grey eyes if we say "vodka" instead of "wadka".
Ross and Kristina get along extremely well - I think they're approximately the
same age. Of course I have to be the tough guy. Last night, she only
ate a very little bit of supper and I was planning "mar-rowsh-na" (ice
cream) for dessert. Since she didn't finish, I proclaimed we wouldn't be
having dessert. I finished off the dishes and headed to my office upstairs
to work for a bit. Kristina wandered in, watched me for a minute or two,
smiled and left again. Deciding to get a soda, I discovered Kristina
picking up the popsicle she left on the bookshelf in the hallway.
Downstairs, I loudly asked how Kristina got the popsicle when there wasn't
supposed to be dessert. Ross told me later that her look to him was
"oops, we got caught - sorry" and shrugged her shoulders.
My husband won a $50 gift certificate for Molly Maid and said maybe we could use
it after Kristina goes home in late August. I said forget that - I need
her tomorrow... and about 10 more certificates to boot!!!
I said to Ross tonight, "How come people have more
than 1 of these!?!" He said can you imagine 4? Especially 4 boys like
friends of ours. I shuddered; certainly that couldn't be by choice!
I said maybe it's easier when you start out with a newborn. He shook his
head violently - nope not in the least. (Ross has a son from a previous
marriage – Evan is 23 now... I can't cuddle him.)
BUT I know their secret!!! It's when they're sleeping. They're
little adorable angels. (Ross says it's too bad they don't sleep as long
as cats do.) And the way they burrow their little heads into your shoulder
when they've hurt themselves and run to you for comfort and soothing. And the
way they cuddle up and drift off to sleep next to you even as they're still
trying to convince you they're not tired. And the fresh, clean scent of
their hair after a bath. And... well, suffice it to say I now know why a
person would want 2, 3 or more of these precious little babes.
In the past, Ross always jokingly referred to his son as his "contribution
to the extension of the species". I know better though, and I now
know what to say when someone asks why I would want a child. It's because I want
an extension of my heart.
